Happy Birthday, Klaus
by TheCivilState
Summary: She's Caroline Forbes and if she says it's Klaus' birthday, then damnit, they're going to celebrate.


_She has no problems with secrets_

_She knows how to keep them_

The bracelet around her wrist became a gift from her father that she wore in his memory. No one pried too much when a grieving girl mentioned her recently deceased father.

The drawing was carefully pressed between the pages of a dictionary she used as a bookend on a bookshelf that was gathering dust. No one would ever look for something of value in between the pages of a dictionary. Especially not a dictionary owned by her.

She was blonde and there was a bevy of dumb blonde jokes, many used in her presence. She was a pageant queen who wanted to be prom queen, so her appearance was clearly more important than her brain. She was neurotic, control freak, girly Caroline Forbes.

Except to Klaus. To him, she was beautiful, strong, and full of light.

Those words were her most carefully guarded secret.

_The devil on my shoulder stares_

_Laughing that the one thing I can't get, is what I need_

"Really, it's ridiculous how obsessed with her you are." Klaus ignored his sister, never even bothering to look up from his sketch book where he was busy drawing Caroline. He'd tried to resist, he truly had, but she'd been plaguing his thoughts to the point it was draw or be driven insane. He'd wanted to keep his wits about him, especially with his mother plotting to kill him. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself.

"Honestly," Rebekah continued, "She's not even that pretty." When she realized she wouldn't get a reaction from her brother, she stormed from the room. Klaus didn't notice; he was too busy softening the curve of Caroline's smile, but he couldn't get it right. He needed the real model before him.

_My vocal cords have been fighting_

_My mouth likes to spite me_

_It never says the words that come to mind_

"What are you doing here?" She was wary, he could tell by the way her right foot was placed behind her incase she needed to run. Not that she could outrun him. But she was putting up a brave front, arms crossed over her chest as she glared. He lifted his sketchbook up so she could see and did his best to sound like a mentally stable individual.

"I'd like to draw you."

She let him in. After all, he was the Original hybrid and it's not like she could say no to him. He might rip her heart out. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

_She, she is the words that I can't find_

"Try to smile," he encouraged as Caroline sat at her vanity desk, elbow resting on the wood as she cradled her chin in her hand. He had taken up perch at the foot of her bed, sketchbook propped on his leg. The corner of her mouth rose, but it wasn't a full-fledged smile and her eyes didn't light up the way he knew they did.

"Try harder." She huffed, hands flying in the air for a moment at her exasperation before settling demurely on her lap.

"It's not like you're giving me anything to smile about," she said, "You show up and say you want to draw me, which sounds creepy, by the way. And it's not like I can say no because you're some Original hybrid who could rip my heart out in a second."

Or less than a second, as Caroline quickly discovered. One moment Klaus was sitting on her bed and the next, she was being held against her vanity by Klaus' hand that was pressing against the flesh and bone protecting her heart. A heart that would be thrumming if it could still beat.

Klaus leaned forward and she tried to ignore how close his hand was to her breasts or how his knee felt as it skimmed her inner thigh and came to rest on the edge of her chair. She could just slid forward and-

No. Wrong thoughts at the wrong time about the _wrong guy_. _Monster, _she lectured herself, _He's a monster and you should not be thinking about rubbing yourself up against a monster… regardless of how attractive he is and holy shit, he's looking at me funny. God, I hope this isn't like Twilight because him reading my mind would be really creepy and bad. So very bad, bad, bad._

Klaus' other hand came to rest on her vanity as he hovered over her, thumb on her chest rubbing the area just below her breast. And then he moved his knee closer, pressing against her and she felt her hips subtly, and very much against her will, shift and rub against him. In her defense, she was a hotblooded female and the look he was giving her at the moment could certainly be considered a thorough eye fucking. It certainly didn't help that he had her pinned against her vanity with nowhere for her to go and that his knee kept pressing closer as his thumb continued to stroke and his breath was beginning to fan across her cheek and hold it, when did he get _that _close?

"When's your birthday?" she suddenly blurted out because Caroline needed a diversion from the situation before she started humping his leg, which would most likely happen if he kept rubbing his knee against her groin while simultaneously undressing her with his eyes.

To her delight- _and minor displeasure because he moved his knee and it'd felt really good and come on, it can't be her fault that she's super horny- _he stepped away and fell backwards on her bed, thoroughly stupefied. There was a thrill of glee that shot through her body, along with something else, when she realized she'd stunned him to silence. She, Caroline Forbes, had surprised him, Klaus, Almighty Original Hybrid.

"What?" Another thrill of glee shot through her, along with something else, but she wasn't thinking about that while she stared at his adorably confused expression and no. No. Klaus was not adorable. He was bad, evil, horrible, and the spawn of Satan. It did not matter how blue his eyes were or how curly his hair was and it certainly did not matter how his mouth screwed up when he was confused.

"When's your birthday?" she asked again because she wasn't looking for a diversion anymore and was genuinely curious. After all, he seemed to have a thing for birthdays.

"I don't have one." Damnit. Here she thought she'd keep the upper hand and leave him confused for the rest of the evening. But no. There really was no beating him.

"Everyone has a birthday," she argued, "Even vampires. You may be an undead Original, but you were still born." His mouth unscrewed and that familiar smirk filled the vacant space. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, but didn't back down.

"Let me rephrase," he said, "I don't know when my birthday is. The Gregorian calendar wasn't in mass circulation then." Damnit. He'd won again and Caroline was starting to get more than a little annoyed. But she was Caroline Forbes and Klaus would not beat her.

"Fine," she said, rising to her feet, "I hereby declare today your birthday. We are now going to celebrate."

She marched out of the room before she could see his jaw come unhinged, but she knew she'd won. After all, she was Caroline Forbes.

Beautiful, strong, and full of light.

_How can the only thing that's killing me, make me feel so alive_

Pin the Tail on the Donkey had been a failure. Apparently, it took a lot to disorient a vampire, but not nearly enough effort was required to humiliate one.

Lisa Forbes, ever a sentimental pack rat, had saved birthday decorations from the last seventeen years of Caroline's life. Seventeen and not eighteen, because her mom hadn't been able to handle the celebrations this year. And honestly, neither had Caroline, but she still had the purple crown that Elena had given her. A purple crown now resting on Klaus' head.

Caroline's room was a mass of streamers with a Happy Birthday banner strung above her bed. She'd contained the birthday celebration to her room in case her mother came home early. The last thing she needed was her mom calling Damon and saying something along the lines of, "Hey, that evil guy you want dead is in my daughter's room. Come fix this huge problem."

"Is this crown really necessary?" Klaus pointed to the offensive accessory balancing precariously on his head and Caroline tried not to laugh. Tried and failed misery.

"The birthday boy needs a crown," she said through her giggles, "And despite how ridiculous you look, I do not have a crown fit for a king." She turned to her closet and reached up to the top shelf where she kept a stash of Disney movies and board games. If she was going to give Klaus the birthday experience of a kid, she was going to be as thorough as she could.

Her breath hitched as Klaus' chest pressed into her back. His arms reached over her head and pulled down the cardboard boxes she'd been struggling to reach. His arms settled around her as she took the games from his hands and for a moment, neither of them moved, just stood there and listened to all the unnecessary breathing.

"King?" he whispered and she stopped breathing entirely as his lips moved dangerously close to her neck. She wondered what it'd be like to have him bite her, drain her… turn her into a hybrid. Was it even possible for a vampire to be turned into a hybrid?

"Candyland?" she suggested cheerily, stepping backwards and forcing him to move as she jumped on the bed and began unpacking the game. He listened to her animatedly explaining the rules, focusing on the way her mouth moved and her eyes lit up and how she was absentmindedly flicking her hair over her shoulder.

Klaus lost the first round and insisted on playing until he won. After seventeen rounds, he proclaimed the game was rigged and Caroline was a cheat. He agreed to put his grudges aside when she mentioned desert.

_I couldn't breathe to save my life_

"Favorite dessert?" she asked, rummaging through the pantry in hopes of finding cake mix. Or at least the components that made up cake mix because she was pretty sure there was a cookbook buried in the house. Somewhere.

"A Lunar Orbiter." At the strange response, Caroline backed out of the pantry and stared at Klaus who had been unabashedly enjoying the view.

"A what?" she said, not bothering to lecture him about being a creep because his eyes instantly met her own when she rose to face him.

"A Lunar Orbiter," he said, "It's an ice cream dish served in at the Seattle Spaceneedle since 1962."

"Really showing your age there," she remarked, going over to the freezer and pulling out a carton of vanilla ice cream. Ice cream never ran in short supply at the Forbes' house.

"How do we make this Lunar Orbiter?" she asked, pulling out various sauces and sprinkles and a can of Redi-Whip. It was all rather pointless when Klaus told her the main component of a Lunar Orbiter was dry ice.

"Okay, I'll just make a Caroline Orbiter." He liked the sound of that.

_All of my chances swim like sinking ships_

"This was delicious," he raved once they finally finished sharing the Caroline Orbiter, which was more like a sundae from hell. She'd layered every sauce between generous scoops of ice cream before topping it off with a mountain of whipped cream- _it's the best part!, she'd argued_- sprinkles, and a tremendous amount of sparkling candles collected and saved over the years.

_Well, you are like, a gazillion or something._

"Better than a Lunar Orbiter?" she asked.

"Much better."

He helped her clean up the mess they made. She didn't allow herself to think of how normal it all seemed. Felt. Was.

_This time it's it_

_I'll drown or make her mine_

"You are not running home in the rain," she said, "I don't care if you're some super fast Original hybrid. I'm driving you."

That was the argument that lead Caroline to drive Klaus home. The drive that ended with her standing outside his door as he invited her in for a drink.

"I'll pass," she said, "Drinking and driving, not a good combo." She shrugged and laughed and he decided he really liked her laugh.

"Then how about a goodnight kiss? It is my birthday, after all." He smiled at her to lighten the situation. They both understood her loyalties were with her friends and she was fraternizing with the enemy. It was a fine line they were both acutely aware of. The question was: would she cross it?

Caroline leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to his cheek before smiling. A genuine smile that made her eyes dance.

"Happy Birthday, Klaus."

_[song fic inspired by "She" by Parachute_


End file.
